Physician as Employee: Is This What I Signed Up For?
Healthcare has changed dramatically over the past fifty years. Theories abound as to the various causes and their effects – with managed care, the Generation X work ethic, and increased numbers of women in medicine being three commonly cited reasons for the decline of the traditional “family doc” who made house-calls and whose work hours were 24/7 as needed and the steep increase in the “physician shift worker” who figuratively clocks in and out and leaves his pager behind when he is off duty. Managed care brought financial pressures to bear on physicians in solo practice. Generation X brought a tide of newly graduated physicians whose definition of balance was quite different from that of their parents’ generation.
Apologetics Series: Should Physicians Take Life?
“No one should force their morals on anyone else. It’s my body. Euthanasia is the most merciful alternative. Legislating morality involves religion, a violation of the separation of church and state.”
The Changing Role of the Doctor
Today’s “new normal” is an unglued mindscape for some doctors, an exciting opportunity for others. How Christian doctors relate to limitless change will be governed primarily by the quality of their relationship with the One who never changes and their trust that they really are His work in progress.
Spectators or Saints – Which Will We Be?
Human trafficking today is a 44 billion dollar a year industry. With over 28 million humans in slavery worldwide, it is likely that Christian doctors will encounter one or more victims in their practice. We can make a difference, if we care and dare.
Special Transfer from Heaven: Embryo Adoption: One Family’s Story
When Lee and I were married in 1984 we thought 12 children would be a good number for our family. We further decided that ours would be “God blended” of six biological and six adopted Klopfensteins. However, as is always the case, God was in control and after some years of infertility, it became apparent that it was time to pursue the first adoption.
Testimony of Wesley Smith
Testimony opposing physician-assisted suicide before the California Senate Judiciary Committee.
Christian Reflections on Dementia
Betty had served God well for years as a missionary in Africa. She was a strong believer and had a passion for the glory of God. At 80 she began to lose things and had difficulty remembering recent events. By 83 she was no longer able to care for her invalid husband and was placed in a nursing home. For the last five years of her life she sat and babbled incoherently.
Testimony of Hendrik Reitsema
Testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution by Dutch resident Hendrik Reitsema who lost his grandfather to euthanasia.
Testimony of Jonathan Imbody
Testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights.
Human Trafficking: The Slavery of the 21st Century
The 2005 US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders every year. This number is dwarfed by the several million that are estimated to be trafficked within their home countries.
More Than Meets the Eye
Every morning when I get up, I ask myself two questions: First, is God as worried as I am? If the answer is yes, then I cancel my agenda for the day ’cause it’s all over. But if the answer is no, I ask the second question: Then why am I worried?
Abortion Ethical Issues Regarding Post-Fertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives
I have prescribed “the Pill” since 1978. My wife and I used the Pill for years, having no moral concerns about it. Then, in 1995 my friend and practice partner John Hartman, MD, showed me a patient information brochure–given to him by a friend–that claimed the Pill had a postfertilization effect causing “…the unrecognized loss of preborn children.” John asked me if I had ever heard of such a thing. I had not.
National Embryo Donation Center
Many couples who have used reproductive technology in an effort to have children are faced with the daunting dilemma of what to do with remaining embryos that will not be implanted and brought to birth. These so-called “excess” embryos are being targeted for destruction by researchers who promise miracle cures. On the other side of the equation are over two million infertile couples who desire to have children.
When Do You Become You?
The debate over the status of pre-born humans has become clouded due to the redefinition of certain terms over the past few decades. Biological advances, including the destruction of embryos to obtain embryonic stem cells have also heightened the ethical dilemma. However, human life remains worthy of protection from the moment of its individual uniqueness—fertilization.
Enduring Through Faith
As healthcare professionals, the coalescing of exhaustive schedules, difficult patients and stressful circumstances can easily empty our energy tanks. God’s strength can save us from those tempting low compassion moments and allow us to soar above the winds of adversity in the milieu of a challenging medical environment.
Cloning Name Games
Proponents of therapeutic cloning seek to clone human embryos, but don’t want them implanted into women. Instead, they want to use them to produce stem cells that might some day be developed into therapies. These stem cells and resulting tissues would be immunologically compatible with the person from whom they were cloned, thereby overcoming the risk of rejection that plagues tissue transplantation from other people.
Should Clinicians Incorporate Positive Spirituality Into Their Practices? What Does the Evidence Say?
Most of the rhetoric decrying the incorporation of basic and positive spiritual care into clinical practice is not based upon reliable evidence.
The Stem Cell Revolution
“Stem cells have the ability to differentiate into a variety of tissues. This means, through careful engineering, stem cells could be used to repair a damaged brain or heart, rebuild a knee, restore injured nervous system connections, treat diabetes and much more. That’s the potential power of stem cells, and the reason the University of Minnesota is investing greatly in its Stem Cell Institute – the first of its kind. The Institute today will change medicine as we know it tomorrow.”
Strengthening the Doctor-Patient-God Relationship
The physician-patient relationship is the cornerstone of medical practice, an essential ingredient in the restoration and maintenance of health. As a researcher, clinician and teacher, I have spent much of my career studying, implementing and modeling the healing effects of the physician-patient relationship, seeking to maximize its benefits in the care of patients. My first research studies at Yale University addressed patients’ perceptions of physician performance, in which I documented that patients ultimately cherish “TLC”—time, listening and caring.1-3 Patients desire and welcome treatment by doctors who show the willingness to listen to their concerns and the heart to care for them as individuals.
A Review of Alternative Medicine: The Christian Handbook
Depending on your practice, within the foreseeable future any number of patients are going to pause on the way out of the exam room, hand on the doorknob, to ask one question or another about alternative medical therapies. For example, one patient might want to know what you think of the “hallelujah diet,” which her friend believes to be divinely inspired.
Testimony of Christopher Hook, M.D.
Testimony offered by Christopher Hook, MD about physician-assisted suicide before a U.S. Senate Briefing regarding the Pain Relief Promotion Act.
Ministry Through End-Of-Life Care
A generation or two ago, when medicine was primarily low-tech, a majority of patients died quickly of acute illness, usually in their own homes, cared for by families, neighbors, and church friends. But things have changed. Now, 90 percent of North Americans die slowly from debilitating disease (organ failure, malignancy, dementia, etc.).
Testimony of Senator Gordon Smith
Testimony offered by Senator Gordon Smith from Oregon opposting physician-assisted suicide before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Testimony of Richard M. Doerflinger
Testimony offered by Richard M. Doerflinger about physician-assisted suicide before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution regarding the Pain Relief Promotion Act.
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Testimony of Robert Orr, MD
Testimony before House Human Services Committee in opposition to H-44, legalization of physician-assisted suicide.